[OS X TeX] Where did StMaryRd go?

[cfrees at imapmail.org]

On Sat 25th Oct, 2008 at 18:17, Franck Pastor seems to have written:

>
> Le 25 oct. 08 ? 18:13, Alain Schremmer a ?crit :
>
>> In order to try and take advantage of Richard Koch's "recommend[ation to 
>> Benish] to basically start over with a new install of TeXShop and 
>> SimpleTeX4ht" I downloaded and installed BasicTeX-2008 and 
>> mactex-additions.mpkg.
>> 
>> But, when I tried to typeset a recent file, I got the message
>> 	File 'stmaryrd.sty' not found.
>> and, when I hit return, got all sorts of incomprehensible stuff.
>> 
>> So I used TeX Distribution to get back to gwTeX and everything works as 
>> before (Big sigh of relief!) but what is going on?
>> 
>> Puzzled regards
>> --schremmer
>
> Well, BasicTeX deserves its name: it's really basic. As such it contains very 
> few packages?

To be honest, I know little about it and certainly have not installed
or used it. It is designed to be small. It is aimed at users who must
download over slower connexions or who have limited space. (Or, I would
suppose, new users who might want a minimal installation to try out.)

Looking briefly at the documentation, it seems BasicTeX prioritises
what you might call "infrastructure" over particular packages. So it
enables you to use any of the major engines and formats, for example.
It also supports European languages by including Latin Modern, Babel
etc.

But it doesn't include the range of fonts and support packages
available in the full version of TeX Live. Something has to be left out
to make it small and I'd guess these are (1) the sorts of items which
are likely to be most dependent on individual usage patterns and
preferences; (2) easier to install later than, say, trying to add
another engine or format. (Note: I know nothing about the actual
decisions made re. BasicTeX's content. I'm just guessing on the basis
of the documentation.) Regarding (1), stmaryrd is certainly not basic
in the way that, say, being able to typeset accents correctly in French
or German is basic. So I'd guess these kinds of additional fonts are
omitted in part because one person may need one set of symbols, another
a different set. Whereas accents etc. are pretty basic so Latin Modern
is included.

Because this is TeX Live 2008, BasicTeX also includes the TeX Live
Manager. This enables you to add packages or "collections" to your
installation if you need them. So, a third option - rather than
installing MacTeX or downloading what you need from CTAN - would be to
use the Manager to install what you need.

See http://mactex-wiki.tug.org/wiki/index.php?title=TeXLive_Manager for
further information. You would want to look at the section on "further
options" for the "install" option but read the earlier stuff first to
make sure you understand how it works.

- cfr